Feels Like Flying
by snowstargirl
Summary: This is a oneshot friendship story set when Jess and Leslie first discover the rope.


**Title: Feels Like Flying**

_Summary:_ This is a oneshot friendship story set when Jess and Leslie first discover the rope.

_Rating:_ K

_Pairing:_ Jess and Leslie (friendship)

_Disclaimer:_ None of the characters from _Bridge to Terabithia_ belong to me. I promise. If I were to venture a guess as to who owns them I might say Katherine Patterson, but now that the movie is out perhaps they belong to several other people as well. I'm not making any money by writing this story.

_Author's Note: _This could probably be based on either the book or the movie (but it's been a while since I've read the book and I wrote this after watching the movie).

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**Feels Like Flying**

Jess helped Leslie pull the rope in and looked at her cautiously. He hoped she wasn't going to do what he thought she was.

He handed her the rope and stepped back.

"What are you doing?" Jess asked nervously.

That rope had been there forever; it couldn't be safe. He didn't trust the tree it was hanging from either.

"Getting up higher," said Leslie excitedly, and she climbed atop an old log in order to do so.

Before he could say anything else, Leslie had jumped onto the rope and was swinging across to the other side of the creek.

Jess held his breath, but Leslie was back again within a few seconds, an expression of pure joy lighting her face. He couldn't remember when he'd ever seen anyone look so happy.

"Wow," she gasped as she fell back on the bank at Jess' feet.

He was relieved.

_Good grief Leslie, you could have killed yourself, _he thought. But Leslie Burke didn't seem to be the sort of girl who worried about petty things like death.

"That was so much fun. You have to try it, come on."

_No way,_ he thought. But he found himself taking the rope from her fingers. He wasn't going to look like a coward in front of her, especially not after losing to her in the race.

He took a deep breath and, fearing certain death, he attached himself to the rope and felt his body leave the ground.

When he stopped thinking about the possibility of falling, Jess found that he was enjoying it. And when he was back on the bank with Leslie, his smile matched her own. They laughed, caught up in the thrill of it.

He gave her the rope without hesitation this time.

Leslie took off over the creek, remembering what she'd heard about heaven. _This must be what it feels like,_ she thought. _I'm sailing. I'm sailing over a blue ocean._ _I'm going up. I'm soaring into the clouds._ She looked up into the sky and reveled in the wonder of it. _I bet if I made a wish right now it would come true._

She turned back to look at Jess, stars shining in her eyes.

_I wish I had a friend._

When she had fallen back to earth she found him waiting for her.

She smiled at him, eyes still brimming with delight.

"Let your head hang back and watch the clouds," she advised. "Feels like flying." If she tried hard enough, she could still imagine that she was doing just that.

She gave him the rope and he grinned at her, imagining it. Jess had never experienced anything he could compare to flying, but when Leslie said it, he believed it was possible.

This time when he left the ground, he focused on the sensation of it. Jess was happier than he'd ever been in his life. How had Leslie known to do this? Had she known it would feel this way? She just seemed to expect that marvelous things would happen.

How could anything feel as wonderful as this?

She had been right; he really felt like he was flying. He wondered what would happen if he just let go.

Then Jess stopped thinking about anything and just concentrated on gliding over the water.

When he returned to Leslie, his eyes were as starry as hers. For just a moment, he had entered her world. And he never wanted to leave it.

He had never met anyone like Leslie. And in that moment, Jess knew that she was going to change his life.

He couldn't think how he had done it, but when Leslie looked at Jess, her eyes told him that he had already changed hers.


End file.
